שַׁמָּה

Deuteronomy 28:37 לְשַׁמָּ֔ה <into> a horror

You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the nations to which the LORD will drive you.

Here: "Into a horror": both the ruined state Israel is reduced to and the stunned reaction of everyone who sees it. The preposition le- ("for, into") marks what Israel turns into. It also sounds the same as the last word of the verse, shammah, "there".

2 Kings 22:19 לְשַׁמָּה֙ <into> a horror

because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its people, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you,’ declares the LORD.

Here: 'A horror.' The word means a ruin so complete that people passing by stare in shock. It covers the wreckage and the reaction it provokes in onlookers.

2 Chronicles 29:8 לְשַׁמָּ֣ה into a horror

Therefore, the wrath of the LORD has fallen upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has made them an object of terror, horror, and scorn, as you can see with your own eyes.

2 Chronicles 30:7 לְשַׁמָּ֔ה into a horror

Do not be like your fathers and brothers who were unfaithful to the LORD, the God of their fathers, so that He made them an object of horror, as you can see.

Psalm 46:8 שַׁמּ֣וֹת desolations

Come, see the works of the LORD, who brings devastation upon the earth.

Here: Plural of a word meaning both a desolate ruin and the stunned horror such a ruin causes in people who see it. In this context it means the wreckage of the armies that attacked (see v. 9: broken bows, burned shields).

Psalm 73:19 לְשַׁמָּ֣ה <into> a waste

How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors!

Here: 'Into a horror.' With 'become', it means they turn into a ruin that shocks everyone who sees it. It names both the wreckage and the gasp it causes.

Isaiah 5:9 לְשַׁמָּ֣ה <into> a waste

I heard the LORD of Hosts declare: “Surely many houses will become desolate, great mansions left unoccupied.

Isaiah 13:9 לְשַׁמָּ֔ה <into> a waste

Behold, the Day of the LORD is coming—cruel, with fury and burning anger—to make the earth a desolation and to destroy the sinners within it.

Here: 'Into a desolation.' The word means a ruined, empty place and also the shock felt by those who see it. It comes from a root meaning 'to be stunned, appalled'. The land becomes a ruin that leaves onlookers speechless.

Isaiah 24:12 שַׁמָּ֑ה desolation

The city is left in ruins; its gate is reduced to rubble.

Jeremiah 2:15 לְשַׁמָּ֔ה into a waste

The young lions have roared at him; they have sounded their voices. They have laid waste his land; his cities lie in ruins, without inhabitant.

Here: 'Into a desolation'. This is one of Jeremiah's signature words: a ruin so complete that it leaves people who see it appalled. It names both the emptiness and the shock it causes.

Jeremiah 4:7 לְשַׁמָּ֔ה into a waste

A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to lay waste your land. Your cities will be reduced to ruins and lie uninhabited.

Here: 'Into a desolation': a ruin so complete that people who see it are struck dumb. This is one of Jeremiah's signature words.

Jeremiah 5:30 שַׁמָּה֙ an atrocious event

A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land.

Here: Something that leaves onlookers stunned and speechless, from the root 'to be desolate / to be appalled'. It comes first for emphasis: the verse opens on the stunned reaction before saying what happened. In Jeremiah the same word usually describes the ruined land that will make passers-by gasp, so it also hints at what this behaviour will turn the land into.

Jeremiah 8:21 שַׁמָּ֖ה desolation

For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am crushed. I mourn; horror has gripped me.

Jeremiah 18:16 לְשַׁמָּ֖ה into a waste

They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.

Here: 'Into a šammāh'. The word means both a ruined, empty place and the stunned horror it causes in people who see it. The land becomes a wasteland and also a sight that horrifies.

Jeremiah 19:8 לְשַׁמָּ֖ה into a waste

I will make this city a desolation and an object of scorn. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all her wounds.

Here: "Into a horror": both a ruined waste and a sight that makes people recoil. It names the state of the place and the reaction it produces at once.

Jeremiah 25:9 לְשַׁמָּ֣ה into a waste

behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.

Here: 'For a horror': both a place laid waste and the sight that leaves onlookers stunned and appalled.

Jeremiah 25:11 לְשַׁמָּ֑ה <into> a waste

And this whole land will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

Here: 'Into a horror'. This is a ruin so complete that people passing by are struck with dread. The word names both the wasteland and the shudder it causes.

Jeremiah 25:18 לְשַׁמָּ֛ה into a waste

to make them a ruin, an object of horror and contempt and cursing, as they are to this day—Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials;

Here: Both a desolate place and the stunned horror felt by people who see it. Jerusalem becomes a sight that leaves onlookers aghast.

Jeremiah 25:38 לְשַׁמָּ֔ה <into> a waste

He has left His den like a lion, for their land has been made a desolation by the sword of the oppressor, and because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

Jeremiah 29:18 וּלְשַׁמָּה֙ and into a waste

I will pursue them with sword and famine and plague. I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth—a curse, a desolation, and an object of scorn and reproach among all the nations to which I banish them.

Here: 'And into an appalling thing.' The word covers both the wasted ruin and the stunned silence of people who look at it.

Jeremiah 42:18 וּלְשַׁמָּה֙ and <into> a horror

For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Just as My anger and wrath were poured out on the residents of Jerusalem, so will My wrath be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an object of cursing and horror, of vilification and disgrace, and you will never see this place again.’

Here: 'And into a horror': something people stare at in stunned dismay. The root covers both being laid waste and being appalled at the sight of it.

Jeremiah 44:12 לְשַׁמָּ֔ה <into> a horror

And I will take away the remnant of Judah who have resolved to go to the land of Egypt to reside there; they will meet their end. They will all fall by the sword or be consumed by famine. From the least to the greatest, they will die by sword or famine; and they will become an object of cursing and horror, of vilification and reproach.

Here: A sight that leaves onlookers stunned and appalled. Their ruin will be a wasteland and a spectacle.

Jeremiah 44:22 וּלְשַׁמָּ֧ה and <into> a waste

So the LORD could no longer endure the evil deeds and detestable acts you committed, and your land became a desolation, a horror, and an object of cursing, without inhabitant, as it is this day.

Here: 'And into a horror.' Something so ruined that people who see it are struck dumb. The word means both the desolate place and the stunned shock of those who look at it.

Jeremiah 46:19 לְשַׁמָּ֣ה <into> a waste

Pack your bags for exile, O daughter dwelling in Egypt! For Memphis will be laid waste, destroyed and uninhabited.

Jeremiah 48:9 לְשַׁמָּ֣ה <into> a waste

Put salt on Moab, for she will be laid waste; her cities will become desolate, with no one to dwell in them.

Jeremiah 49:13 לְשַׁמָּ֧ה <into> a waste

For by Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that Bozrah will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and a curse, and all her cities will be in ruins forever.”

Here: A thing so devastated that people who see it are stunned with horror. The word covers both the ruined place and the shock of those looking at it.

Jeremiah 49:17 לְשַׁמָּ֑ה <into> a horror

“Edom will become an object of horror. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all her wounds.

Jeremiah 50:3 לְשַׁמָּ֔ה into a waste

For a nation from the north will come against her; it will make her land a desolation. No one will live in it; both man and beast will flee.”

Jeremiah 50:23 לְשַׁמָּ֛ה <into> a horror

How the hammer of the whole earth lies broken and shattered! What a horror Babylon has become among the nations!

Jeremiah 51:29 לְשַׁמָּ֖ה into a waste

The earth quakes and writhes because the LORD’s intentions against Babylon stand: to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.

Here: 'Into a shammah': a ruin so complete that passers-by are appalled. The word covers both the wreckage and the horrified reaction of those who see it.

Jeremiah 51:37 שַׁמָּ֥ה a horror

Babylon will become a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals, an object of horror and scorn, without inhabitant.

Here: Both a wasteland and the appalled horror it causes in people who see it. Babylon becomes a sight that leaves onlookers stunned.

Jeremiah 51:41 לְשַׁמָּ֛ה <into> a horror

How Sheshach has been captured! The praise of all the earth has been seized. What a horror Babylon has become among the nations!

Here: "Into a horror": a place laid waste, and also a sight that leaves people stunned and appalled. The word holds both the ruin and the reaction of those who see it. This is the exact reverse of "the praise of all the earth."

Jeremiah 51:43 לְשַׁמָּ֔ה <into> a waste

Her cities have become a desolation, a dry and arid land, a land where no one lives, where no son of man passes through.

Ezekiel 23:33 שַׁמָּ֣ה horror

You will be filled with drunkenness and grief, with a cup of devastation and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria.

Hosea 5:9 לְשַׁמָּ֣ה <into> a waste

Ephraim will be laid waste on the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel I proclaim what is certain.

Joel 1:7 לְשַׁמָּ֔ה into a waste

It has laid waste My grapevine and splintered My fig tree. It has stripped off the bark and thrown it away; the branches have turned white.

Micah 6:16 לְשַׁמָּ֗ה into a horror

You have kept the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house; you have followed their counsel. Therefore I will make you a desolation, and your inhabitants an object of contempt; you will bear the scorn of the nations.”

Here: Both a ruin and the shock it causes. The root means to be desolate and to be appalled. The city becomes a sight that makes passers-by shudder. This is the word of the covenant curse in Deut 28:37.

Zephaniah 2:15 לְשַׁמָּ֗ה <into> a waste

This carefree city that dwells securely, that thinks to herself: “I am it, and there is none besides me,” what a ruin she has become, a resting place for beasts. Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.

Here: 'Into a desolation'. The root means both 'be laid waste' and 'be appalled'. She becomes a wasteland and also a sight that horrifies, which leads into the passers-by's reaction.

Zechariah 7:14 לְשַׁמָּֽה׃ פ into a waste

But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known, and the land was left desolate behind them so that no one could come or go. Thus they turned the pleasant land into a desolation.”

Here: 'Into a waste', a ruin that makes people gasp. This is Jeremiah's word for the seventy-year ruin (Jer 25:9–11). It sounds like the earlier 'nashammah' and like 'vayyasimu', so the verse ends in a chain of sound-alike words.